The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) was a contest sponsored by Amazon.com, Penguin Group, Hewlett Packard, CreateSpace and BookSurge to publish and promote a manuscript by an unknown or unpublished author. The first award was given in 2008 and in 2015 Amazon announced that they would not be continuing the award and would instead focus on the Kindle Scout program.
Judging process
After the initial submission period is over, the contest is made up of five rounds:
Round One: Each contestant must submit a short pitch about their novel, with selected Amazon editors judging the pitch on its quality, strength and originality. The editors will select up to 1,000 pitches from each category to progress to the second round. Round Two: Excerpts from each novel will be read, reviewed and rated by Amazon editors and top reviewers. They will be judged on a scale of one (poor) to five (excellent) based on the excerpt's overall strength, prose, style, plot, hook and the originality of the excerpt. 250 novels will be selected from both categories to progress to the quarter-finals. Quarter-finals: The entrants progressing to this category will have both their excerpts as well as the reviews from round two posted on Amazon for reading and reviewing. However, the judging for this category is done by Publishers Weekly reviewers who will select the top 50 entries from each category to progress to the semi-finals. Semi-finals: At this round the top 50 entries will be judged by a panel of judges selected by the publishing company Penguin, who will choose the top 3 entries for each category to progress to the finals. Finalist Period: During this round the top excerpts for each category will be posted on the main ABNA page with links for the Amazon customer to vote for their chosen entry. Each contestant will also receive a review from a celebrity panel consisting of "at least one well-known author, one agent, and one editor." The winner of the contest will be announced at an awards ceremony held in the city of Amazon's choosing.
2008 competition
Amazon introduced the Breakthrough Novel Award in 2007. The first competition began in late 2007 and ended in early 2008. A maximum of 5,000 manuscripts were accepted during the contest period, which ran between October 1, 2007 and November 5, 2007. In mid-January 2008, up to 836 authors were selected as semi-finalists and received a capsule review of their manuscript from Publishers Weekly. On February 19, 2008, 100 semi-finalists had their manuscripts read by Penguin editors.
On March 3, 2008, the top ten finalists were announced. All received a prize package from HP and a self-publishing package from BookSurge.
The Hellraiser of Hollywood Hills by Jennifer Colt
Casting Off by Nicole R. Dickson
Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan
The Wet Nurse's Tale by Erica Eisdorfer
The Butterflies of Grand Canyon by Margaret Erhart
Ring of Lies by Karen Laugel
Fresh Kills by Bill Loehfelm
Motherless Children by Randall Luce
The Prospect of My Arrival by Dwight Okita
Wrecking Civilization Before Lunch by John Ring
Amazon customers voted to pick the grand-prize winner. The top three received a trip to New York City. On April 7, 2008, Fresh Kills by Bill Loehfelm was announced as the first winner of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Loehfelm won a larger prize package from HP and a $25,000 advance on a publishing contract with Penguin.
2009 competition
In late 2008, Amazon started taking in entries for the 2009 ABNA awards. The judges for the year were announced to be Sue Grafton, Sue Monk Kidd, Barney Karpfinger, and Eamon Dolan. Finalists were announced May 15, 2009.
Finalists
Bill Warrington's Last Chance by James King
In Malice, Quite Close by Brandi Lynn Ryder
Stuff of Legends by Ian Gibson
On May 27, 2009, Bill Warrington's Last Chance by James King was announced as the winner of that year's contest. King received a publishing contract that included a $25,000 advance. Bill Warrington's Last Chance was published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA).
Sue Grafton, New York Times-bestselling author, said about the winning entry, "This is what reading is about and what a good book is supposed to do."